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Weld
Weld is a Case 53 and member of the Boston Wards. He was brought in to lead the Brockton Bay Wards after Leviathan's attack and later moved on to lead the Irregulars after the Battle against Echidna. Personality Possibly influenced by his own experiences Weld is an accepting and trusting individual, https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/interlude-19-donation-bonus-2/#comment-12845 Comment] by Wildbow in Missing Interlude generally being respectful, honest, and kind to just about everyone barring Cauldron, the Slaughterhouse Nine, and the rest on the far end of villainous spectrum. Weld speaks with a noticeable Boston accent.Extinction 27.3Parasite 10.2 While his size and strength lend many to view him as a simple front-line combatant. Weld has a keen intelligence with analytical and tactical insight. Socially he has been known to misstep,Sentinel 9.1 sometimes greatly but always memorably.“Weld isn’t dumb,” Shadow Stalker said, as she stepped out of one room and crossed the hall. “Except maybe with people. Kind of put his big metal foot in his big metal mouth, I remember. But he’s not dumb when it comes to powers or strategy. He’s had a few years to figure this out.” - Excerpt from Venom 29.4 He struggles with the changes his body has gone through having lost much of his ability to taste, feel pressure, and smell. It is unknown to the full extent that his sensorium has been affected.What constitutes a "Sense" He is highly reliant on music as a coping mechanism as a result, with his quarters among the Wards having wall to wall stacks of CDs. He does not strictly need to eat and functions on less sleep than normal for humans. In fact he used some of his Wards food stipend to buy music.Ah, but you have to weigh it. How self-serving is it, really? I mean, he’s not really cheating the system or stealing money. He’s thinking, “Others get $400 a month to spend on food and other essentials, but I don’t sweat and my clothes last a long while if I get durable ones, and I don’t eat, so why shouldn’t I spend money on something more ‘quality of life’?” Sure, he’s bending the rules a smidge, but he’s a teenage boy, not a saint, and he puts up with a hell of a lot with his condition. It’s really pretty tame as sins go. -Comment by Wildbow on Sentinel 9.1 His emotional range is also affected. He states that he does not have adrenaline or really feel fear because his body does not produce the chemicals for it.“Sveta idolizes me. She sees me as a hero, a spokesperson for our kind. Her therapist asked me to come visit, because she heard about what happened in the Echidna attack, what Cauldron was doing. All of her progress, gone. So her therapist wanted her hero to show up. Give her guidance, support. It worked.”'' “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” I asked. ... Weld was shaking his head. “She thinks I’m fearless, but I’m not. I don’t have any hormones, any real heart that can pound, adrenaline to flow through my veins. But I still feel fear, still feel despair. I can’t jump into the water and sink to some point lower than mount Everest is tall, spending months or years without any goddamn music. So I stay here and… I try to convince them to leave. I’m a coward in the end, putting them at risk because I’m scared I’ll sink.” - Excerpt from Extinction 27.5 Relationships Sveta Karelia Originally Sveta idolized Weld. then she became his teammate and a fervent supporter. They eventually started a relationship together, moving into the same apartment and sleeping in the same bed together. He talks about everything with Sveta including things she is not supposed to know.“Where are ''you at?” I asked. “Weld has been telling me things about what’s going on elsewhere. Things he shouldn’t be telling me, but I think a lot of it is the kind of thing like a husband with a certain position might tell his wife, sometimes, even when those things are confidential.” “Wife?” I asked. I raised an eyebrow. “Shut up,” Sveta said, lifting her chin a bit, looking mock-affronted. “Not another word about that.” “You’re the one who said the word.” - Excerpt from Shade 4.5 Director Armstrong The two are never seen interacting together in story. However, Weld explicitly references Armstrong as a father figure when defending him to Director Piggot, who was saying that Armstrong prioritized research over trying to integrate capes and deviants into society. Weld elaborates he will be visiting Armstrong over the summer. Armstrong is also one of the only PRT Directors who was not hostile to Weaver after the Battle of New Delhi.Scarab 25.1 It is possible the Director survived Gold Morning and now works as in The City under the title of Chief Armstrong. Taylor Hebert Weld was genial to Skitter at their first meeting though neither of them had been introduced at the time and were about to face an Endbringer under the Truce. While professional in his obligation to place her in custody as a PRT sponsored hero, Weld was willing to listen to Taylor when the situation called for it. Weld is described by Taylor as being "one of the only decent ones out there..."Venom 29.3 Weld admitted to her that he did not see himself as a hero and was worried about being isolated without any music. She did save him when he came closest to death. PRT Weld was promoted to leader of the Brockton Bay Wards to be the ‘face’ for the more "deviant" members of the Protectorate. Hopefully with his success leading the Brockton Bay Wards team he will eventually go on to lead a city’s Protectorate team. He was able to secure funding from the PRT when he started his own team of 'ethical mercenaries'.The Irregulars Formed of a splinter group of ex-hero Case 53s and others, following the revelations of the Triumvirate’s involvement with Cauldron. The group does mercenary work, with a focus on doing good deeds more than on making money, and retains loose ties to the Protectorate and Wards. - Cast (In Depth) The Wards Despite initial difficulties, Weld was able to become a competent leader of the wards and successfully lead them in many perilous confrontations. Appearance Weld's body is "from skin to hair to bone, was all metal and alloys of varying types".Sentinel 9.1 He is described as being mostly a textured dusky dark grey though whether this is his natural or "default" coloring or because he absorbed a large amount of such metal is unknown.Extermination 8.1 Of note is the silver tracery, this defines his very prominent musculature. His eyes are also silver, two lines come from the outer corners of his eyes down his cheekbones and to the sides of his jaw. He is still recognizably a teenager.Weld – A member of the Boston Wards, Weld is a metal-skinned boy, one of the case 53s (People who tend to have amnesia, a specific mark and monstrous features). - Worm Cast Page Excerpt from Extermination 8.1: "...a shirtless, muscled boy with metal skin, eyes and hair and a strange texture to his shoulders and spine. Among other things, I noticed ... his metal body was exceedingly detailed and refined. His ‘skin’ was a dusky dark gray metal with the slightest of swirls of lighter metals in it, and his ‘adonis’ musculature was perfectly etched out in the metal, with silver lines tracing his muscle definition like veins of metal in raw ore. His eyes, too, were silver, and two lines ran from the corners of them down his cheekbones and to the sides of his jaw." It is not unknown for him to have a random collection of metal objects fused to his skin, at various stages of absorption. After creating the Irregulars he is described as having reformatted his overall appearance, forming scales and small horns throughout his body.That same mark, in different sizes and at different angles, marked the various members of the new arrivals. Weld’s Irregulars. Weld had altered his look, a little more edgy, a little less human. Segments of his metallic flesh stood out like horns or scales, and the veins and crevices were deeper. Strangest of all was that he was wearing another of the case fifty-threes, in addition to his thick canvas pants. Tendrils encircled his arms and legs, wound around his fingers. Loops of metal, in turn, bound the tendrils, locking them into place, or helped direct them into and through his limbs. All of the tendrils led to the same point, to a pale girl’s face, with Cauldron’s mark on her cheekbone. She had no body I could make out, no hair, only the tendrils. - Excerpt from Extinction 27.2It’s telling, too, that Weld’s appearance changed. He decorated himself with horns and scales. - Glow-worm P.8 He also took to wearing a compatriot. Unlike other Case 53s Weld's mark is branded into his heel rather than tattooed,“He’s a good kid with a good record,” Dragon chimed in from the computer, “Ferrous biology, absorbs metals through his skin. Strong, tough, good grades across the board, high marks in the tactics simulations. Likable, and a scan of the web shows feedback for him is higher than average, which is impressive, considering he’s one of the Case 53s.” “He’s got the tattoo?” Hannah asked. “The mark is branded into his heel, not tattooed, but yes.” - Excerpt from Interlude 7 it manifests even if Weld were to reform the foot. Abilities and Powers Weld, as a Case 53, possesses a completely metallic physiology, and can willfully alter his shape and composition. His entire body is composed of various metals, down to his inner organs. This includes having silver bones as well as copper and gold internal organs.Crawler came tearing through the blazing parking booth and blindsided Weld. In terms of raw power, the junior hero might as well have been a powerless human for all the defense he could muster. Crawler’s claws tore into him, revealing bones in silver, organs in copper and gold. Two grenades left. I threw one down at them. Mannequin backed away, and Crawler, though his head was directed at Weld, rose up onto his two hind legs and batted at the grenade with Weld’s body. The explosive went off a second after the impact, and Weld was thrown free of Crawler’s grip. I saw him stagger to his feet, his wounds closing as he shapeshifted them. He couldn’t do much about the material that had been raked off of him. ... This time, at least, Weld took on the heavy hitter. He leaped at Crawler from the side, his hand becoming needle-fine as he plunged it into one of Crawler’s largest eye sockets. I knew that Crawler could dodge Ballistic’s hits. He must have seen Weld coming and simply not cared. The needle barely penetrated Crawler’s eye, but Weld used the leverage to wrap himself around Crawler’s face. - Excerpt form Prey 14.5 Due to his unique physiology, he is stronger and more durable than most - in his own words, 'practically untouchable in a fight'. His malleable physiology allows him to survive what would fatal injuries to a baseline human. He states he does not really have a heart.The Director took the hand of a uniform inside the helicopter, stepping inside, and Weld followed her up, refusing a helping hand. The helicopter shifted slightly with the addition of his six hundred pounds of weight. ... Weld looked down at his hands. His body, from skin to hair to bone, was all metal and alloys of varying types. “I’ve dealt with it before, I’ll manage.” ... “It’s fine. I don’t have to sleep much, anyways, so it’s good to keep busy.” ... “Yes,” he answered her, bending the truth. While he did eat, it was a negligible amount. As he saw it, there was no real harm done if he pocketed some of that extra money and said he spent it on food. Given that his tongue was made of an alloy and the pleasures of food were a shadow of what they should be, it was only fair that he enjoy himself in some other way. He knew that some staff back in Boston had caught on, but they hadn’t said anything. Director Piggot here gave him the vibe that maybe she wouldn’t be so cool with it. He’d be more careful until he knew for sure. ... “I appreciate the thought,” he told her. His physiology had the unfortunate drawback that he couldn’t help but attach to and absorb metal he touched. While it had been crippling when he’d first been found, dumped in a junkyard, he had learned ways around it. He could rearrange the metals that formed his body, separate them into their composite elements, and he extended this particular trick to push all the impurities in the metals out to his ‘skin’. The impurities, unlike the metal that composed the rest of him, didn’t bond, giving him the ability to handle things with his hands and teeth if he needed to. It didn’t always work – at least once a week there was one embarrassing moments where he bonded with someone’s wedding ring during a handshake or bumped into a shelf display – but it helped. Clothes helped as well. In a more serious situation, such as when he was out on patrol, he could force parts of himself to melt and drop off, leaving a piece of himself behind, but it made him distinctly uncomfortable – pain wasn’t the right word – until he replaced the tissue he’d lost. More often, he preferred to just tear the offending piece of metal from whatever surface it rested on, whether it was a segment of chain link fence or a hubcap. Whenever he did it, he’d have to spend as much as an hour dissolving the metal and absorbing it into his body. Either way, they were only emergency measures. Which wasn’t to say he was weak. Being made of materials and alloys as strong or stronger than steel from head to toe made him practically untouchable in a fight. In addition, his biology fell into some optimal middle ground between organic and inorganic. For those whose powers affected only living things, he counted as inorganic. The opposite was also true. - Excerpt from Sentinel 9.1 Weld can rearrange the metals that form his body, separate them into their composite elements, and push the impurities to the surface of his skin. This allows him to handle metallic objects with his hands and teeth, as normally he bonds to metals he touches on contact. This assimilation effect is largely how he repairs damage to his body. He can also force parts of himself to melt and drop off, leaving a part of himself behind. This makes him distinctly uncomfortable until he replaces the tissue he's lost. A further ability of his is to shift parts of his anatomy. He has been known to turn his arms into spears and hooks for combat. He is also able to shape his body to repair any damage he suffers. This shifting extends to his entire body, allowing him to tweak his appearance if he wants to look more imposing or wear a compatriot, at one point even changing his apparent gender. Lastly, his powers are subject to a highly-favorable Manton Effect; powers that only affected organic beings tend to not affect him,Weld turned back to Noelle. His left hand changed to become a blade, and he used it to hack and slash his way through Noelle’s side. His other hand dug and scraped for purchase as he deliberately and intentionally submerged himself. ... Grace and Tecton fell, and Weld dropped after them. He turned the blade of one hand into a scythe, then chopped a segment of Echidna’s foot free. With one motion of the scythe, he sent Tecton, Regent and some of the dogs skidding our way, sliding them on the vomit-slick floor like a hockey player might with a puck on ice. Echidna deliberately dropped, belly-flopping onto Weld, Grace and the dismembered foot that had stepped on the sixth dog. Miss Militia was already drawing together a rocket launcher. She fired a shot at the general location where Weld was. He forced his way free of the resulting wound a moment later, the dog tucked under one arm, Grace under the other. Echidna swiped at him, but he hurled the others forward to safety a second before it connected. He was slammed into the wall, but he didn’t even reel from the blow. He made a dash for us. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.1 and powers that only affect inorganic material also tend to not affect him. History Background Weld was what Cauldron called a deviation scenario.5) Did Noelle experience what was called a “Deviation scenario” as was mentioned in 11:7? ... Yes and no. Deviation scenarios include Weld and Gully. - Comment by Wildbow on Imago 21.1 After he was ejected from their custody he woke up amnesic in a scrapyard,He states in one paragraph, as he contemplates his power, that he was found in dumped in a junkyard, presumably with metal bits stuck to him. Miss Militia notes in her interlude that he’s a ‘Case 53’, or one of the ones with the tattoos. - Comment by Wildbow on Sentinel 9.1 his body a fragment consisting of his head and a fragment of his chest.Armstrong ... was responsible for rescuing Weld after Weld had been dropped off, an amnesiac with a head and part of a chest, left in a scrapyard. - Excerpt from Breaking 14.11 There he spent an inordinate amount of time consolidating and separating himself from the metal that had been fused to his body“I appreciate the thought,” he told her. His physiology had the unfortunate drawback that he couldn’t help but attach to and absorb metal he touched. While it had been crippling when he’d first been found, dumped in a junkyard, he had learned ways around it. He could rearrange the metals that formed his body, separate them into their composite elements, and he extended this particular trick to push all the impurities in the metals out to his ‘skin’. The impurities, unlike the metal that composed the rest of him, didn’t bond, giving him the ability to handle things with his hands and teeth if he needed to. It didn’t always work – at least once a week there was one embarrassing moments where he bonded with someone’s wedding ring during a handshake or bumped into a shelf display – but it helped. Clothes helped as well. - Excerpt from Sentinel 9.1 It is unknown if this was in Boston, but he would eventually be recruited to the Boston Wards team by Director Armstrong, who became something of a father figure to Weld. Weld was a Boston Ward for two years.A two year tenure as a member of the Boston Wards with no offenses or misconduct reported to the media. He was the third monstrous cape to feature as an actor on a television show, the first to make a second appearance on TV, and the first mutant with an onscreen kiss. He was the subject of a viral online image, released with various humorous captions, and it was a combination of this and arguably his small-network television appearances that gave him his popularity. He rode this success to a position as the first monstrous cape to be the team leader of the Wards. - Glow-worm P.8 At some point, Weld was the subject of an internet meme featuring an image of him with various captions. He also had something of an acting career during this period. Because of his work he was on track to be part of the PRT's push to incorporate more Case 53's into the Protectorate.Weld – Once the forerunner of a new phase in the Protectorate’s plan to acclimatize the public to capes, Weld was to be the ‘face’ of the more monstrous or unusual capes, taking over the Wards, with plans to eventually have him lead a city’s Protectorate team. Left the Wards following the revelations about Eidolon and Alexandria’s involvement with Cauldron. Now leads the Irregulars. Weld has metal flesh, a consequence of his ability to absorb metal and incorporate it into his biology. This renders him nigh-indestructible and gives him basic shapeshifting ability. - Cast (in depth)Weld was, in his introductory chapter and interlude, mentioned as being the forerunner and point man for the next phase of the PRT’s overarching plan to blend parahumans into society. The test case, if you will. - Comment by Wildbow on Scourge 19.4 He was the third monstrous cape to feature as an actor on a television show, the first to make a second appearance on TV, and the first with an onscreen kiss. Coming to Brockton Bay Weld was deployed to Brockton Bay as part of the response to the Endbringer incursion. Here he met Skitter in passing and their lives would continue to intersect well into the future. He teamed up with Browbeat as part of the plan B response to stall Leviathan. The aftermath of the attack on Brockton Bay he would see him transferred to the city as the new leader of the local Wards. He would arrive three weeks after the attack having to wrap up personal affairs in Boston.greatwyrmgold: Why did Weld not stay in Brockton Bay after the Leviathan attack? Was there some ceremonial thing in Boston that needed to be done, or was there a larger skip between arcs than I realized, or what? wildbow: ~Three weeks, IIRC. He needed to wrap things up back home, and he had people (like teammates, Director Armstrong) that he wanted to say goodbye to. - Comment by Wildbow on Sentinel 9.1 Though he did not make the best first impression on his new team, Weld rapidly proved to be a capable leader,Sentinel 9.3 even pushing for therapy for his teammates given what they had gone through.Sentinel 9.5 Was instrumental in the Protectorates strategy against the Slaughterhouse Nine, defending his fellow heroes against Crawler and Mannequin after a bombing run ordered by Director Piggot. Post-Slaughterhouse Nine Weld did not intervene when dragon suits were deployed against the Undersiders. He was instrumental in repeatedly recovering captured capes out of the new S-Class threat that was released into Brockton Bay. When the extent of Skitter's activities were revealed by Chitter Weld did not let this dissuade him from his mission. He reported it to his boss however. When Ignis Fatuus revealed dread secrets at the heart of the Protectorate Weld still kept fighting the aberrations created by the S-Class threat. Post-Echidna Weld would form The Irregulars following the revelations of Ignis Fatuus. Further he would enter into an alliance with Faultline's crew. After hearing that an occupant of the Parahuman Asylum had heard and reacted badly to those same revelations Weld visited and recruited her to his fledgling team. Post-Timeskip His team was invited to Cauldron meetings where he castigated his former captors . Gold Morning Orchestrated one of the only successful invasions of Cauldron's Base, with the aid of some new recruits. Unlike many of his compatriots he had not fallen to despair enough to think all that he had time to do was take revenge on his tormentors before everyone died at the hands of Zion. With a handful of others Weld fought against former friends in defense of both his principles and the time for needed answers to come to light.Cockroaches 28.x (Interlude) Weld was torn apart more fiercely then ever before yet still survived, unable to stand or move due to the horrific damage inflicted on him.Weld, mangled to the point that he looked more like scrap metal than a person, was heaved forward, thrown to the ground. A sphere rolled forward. Something coiled within, behind the colored transparent pane. Someone in the crowd grabbed it, then made their hands glow. Fire? Heating the material? I couldn’t tell from this distance, but I could see the movement within accelerate in fits and starts. Weld reached out for the sphere, but his arm was so badly damaged it couldn’t hold his weight. It bent the wrong way, breaking off. When he rolled over onto his back, the forearm was stuck to his upper arm, hand to his shoulder and neck. If he’d been a human, if half that much damage had been done, there would be no way he’d be alive. - Excerpt from Venom 29.4 He helped in the final push, showcasing the extent of his shifting abilities while under the influence of Khepri."One metal-skinned boy I’d salvaged from the ruins of a recent fight had been molded into a steel-skinned companion." - Speck 30.6 Post-Gold Morning Joined the Wardens and was given his own squad. Took a vacation with Garotte. They started a relationship together.“…And she says she’s his girlfriend,” Kenzie said. Tristan sighed. “Yep.” “She’s living with him, and they sleep in the same bed, and they make each other breakfast,” Kenzie said. I liked the mental image. I liked that Sveta was smiling as much as she was. - Excerpt from Flare 2.5 Post-Fallen fall Following the damage that The Wardens suffered, Weld is being quite overworked. Brokered monetary assistance from The Wardens to the Breakthrough.We were talking about money, Sveta talked to Weld and Weld talked to his bosses. They’re going to see what they can funnel our way. It won’t be a ton, but it’s going to cover rent.” - Excerpt from Flare 2.5 He was mobilized during the African crisis.Polarize 10.10 Post-Goddess' Takeover Returned from the battlefield Confided in Victoria that he was having problems with his relationship with Sveta. Post-Time Bubble Pop He broke up with Sveta in part due to the manipulations of teacher's group. Post-Attack on Teacher Weld accompanied Sveta during The Second Shin Crisis.Sundown 17.7 The Ice Breaks As the rest of Wardens he was mobilized against the Titans. Weld helped to arrange emergency testing of Case 53s.Infrared 19.a He appeared in the support role during the defense of the Shardspace entry-point, helping other people move around and recover wounded.Weld was too small to play the brute, and Titan Skadi hit hard enough that a man made of solid metal wouldn’t necessarily survive what she did, so he’d ‘welded’ limb extensions on, metal arms and legs that he could use to move faster and scoop up anyone in danger. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.1 Weld attempted to control the Neo-Irregulars group of Case 53s on the benefit of The Wardens.“On the down-low,” Sveta said, leaning in closer, until our heads were almost touching. “Weld is pretending to be mad at me.” “Pretending why?” I asked. Tristan looked equally curious. “Heavy stuff that happened once. Information I didn’t pass him, before the Irregulars went bad. It came up in the moment, he acted like it was a surprise. To open a way to communicate with the case fifty-threes. Get them on board, when they might have run for it otherwise.” - Excerpt from Infrared 19.3 He deployed together with them, Faultline’s Crew, and Breakthrough against Titan Fortuna. Site Navigation Category:Brute Category:Case 53s Category:Characters Category:Changer Category:Heroes Category:The Irregulars Category:Males Category:Wards Category:The Wardens Category:Point of View Character Category:Noctis Capes Category:Worm Characters Category:Ward Characters